By: Shannon Ralph I adore my son. I love him with all my heart. I do, however, find myself sometimes marveling at the unparalleled anomaly that is a 12-year-old boy. Not yet a teen. No longer a little kid. My son is taller than me. Hairier. His feet are huge. His socks smell. He’s opinionated. […]

By The Seattle Lesbian Tuesday the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) launched its #Equality4Families campaign to raise awareness about the need to reform state laws so that they fully protect LGBT parents’ rights to care for their children. The campaign launch comes on the heels of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court freedom to marry victory, […]

By: Shannon Ralph Recently, my 9-year-old son began taking swim lessons at one of our local Minneapolis YWCA locations. On the first day of his class, we had planned a family dinner out afterwards, so my wife, my other two children, and I marched into the YWCA hand in hand as a show of […]

By: Shannon Ralph I have a love/hate relationship with the South. I love her and she hates me. Or so it would seem. You see, I am a born and bred Kentucky girl. The South is in my blood. It’s who I am. Or, at least, it is a large part of who I am. […]

By Tanya Dodd-Hise One week out from surgery. The pain is intense; the drains are annoying as hell. My post-op appointment with my surgeon is today, and I am SO hoping that she will remove at least one of the drains today. We get to my appointment right on time, and are taken back right […]

By Tanya Dodd-Hise It is very odd to lie flat on my back these days. If I do, and I put my hands behind my head, then it makes the tumor in my breast very prominent and noticeable, even if just to me. It is fairly large in size, so whenever I lay down, it […]

By: Heather Somaini Yes, you read that correctly. I adopted my own genetically biological children. As same sex marriage continues to evolve in our great state of California and across the country, you might think that just having children and then getting your name put on their birth certificate would be everything a parent would […]

Interview with Heather Somaini by The Next Family The Next Family thought it would be fun to begin conducting interviews with our writers to get to know them a bit better. If you have any questions of your own, feel free to ask Heather in the comments section. TNF: How has it been blogging for […]

By: Carol Rood I love summertime. Ice cream, summer fruits, hot beach days, lying by the pool, drinking frozen drinks, hanging out with friends, staying light outside until 9:00 pm, and NO SCHOOL!! I am a college student with three kids and two part-time jobs. I also have three cats, a dog, and a beautiful […]